Vegan frittata with sausage & kale

This savory vegan frittata is filled with onions, kale, red bell pepper, and veggie sausage. It’s all cradled in a creamy tofu and cashew filling.

It’s a wonderful make-ahead meal for easy weekday breakfasts. Just reheat and eat. Or serve it for a holiday brunch. Vegan & gluten-free optional.

Want to start your day with a satiating breakfast that includes protein and veggies? Do yourself a favor and make a vegan frittata.

It has a beautifully creamy yet firm texture. Then it’s dotted with chewy seitan sausage, red bell pepper, and kale.

You get umami from white miso paste, and cheesiness from nutritional yeast flakes. Finally, there’s paprika, ancho chili powder, and cumin with a pinch of turmeric for color.

If you make it on Sunday, you can simply reheat slices throughout the week. It’s so convenient knowing a delicious breakfast is just waiting for you in the refrigerator. It’s also eye-catching enough for a Christmas morning breakfast.

To fill out the meal, add breakfast potatoes or an air fried hash brown patty.

What’s the difference between a frittata and a quiche?

The biggest difference between a frittata and a quiche is the crust or lack of one. A quiche is a French egg dish that’s baked in a pie crust. Frittatas are an Italian egg dish that don’t include a crust.

Since this is a vegan recipe, of course, no eggs are involved here. This egg-free frittata is made with a base of tofu and raw cashews.

I already have a recipe on the blog for crustless vegan quiche bites (above). They’re like vegan egg muffins that can be cooked in the oven or air fryer.

But I wanted to offer a more standard alternative for folks who would prefer to make a full-sized frittata. It’s a great option for people who like the look of a slice, or who don’t have a muffin pan.

How to make vegan frittata

Here’s what you’ll need for this vegan frittata recipe.

1. Soak raw cashew pieces to soften them. You can cover them in boiling water, or microwave them until the water is hot. Then let them soak for ten minutes or more. Drain.

(If you don’t have a high-speed blender, you’ll want to soften the cashews even more by soaking for several hours. Or you can grind dry raw cashews in a coffee grinder, and then add the pulverized cashews to a standard blender.)

2. Add the following to a high-speed blender:

• Soaked & drained raw cashews
• Non-dairy milk
• Stone-ground mustard
• Hot sauce
• White miso paste
• Super firm tofu (from a vacuum-packed package)

Blend until smooth. If you have a Vitamix, this is a great time to get the tamper involved. Otherwise, stop occasionally to scrape down the sides.

Once it’s smooth, add the following to the blender:

• Nutritional yeast flakes
• Granulated onion
• Paprika
• Cumin
• Ancho chili powder
• Turmeric
• Kala namak (also known as black salt)

Blend until it’s mostly incorporated. (If it’s not completely incorporated, it’s not a deal breaker, because you’ll be mixing it with other ingredients shortly.)

3. Now it’s time to make your vegetable filling.

In a skillet, brown veggie sausage (or seitan bacon), onions, red bell pepper, and kale over medium heat.

Then in a mixing bowl, combine the tofu mixture with the vegetable filling until evenly incorporated.

4. Put the tofu mixture in a greased pie pan. Sprinkle with a little more paprika for color. Then bake.

Make it your own

This vegan tofu frittata recipe is rife with variation options. That makes it a super handy recipe for cleaning out the fridge.

You don’t need a lot of any one ingredient. And you can tweak it depending on your preferences & produce drawer.

Vary the vegetables

Replace any of the vegetables with an equal amount of jarred artichoke hearts, steamed broccoli, chopped spinach, red onion, cubed cooked potato, asparagus, zucchini, sautéed mushrooms, and/or diced tomato.

Vary the sausage or bacon

This eggless frittata is great with any veggie sausage or bacon you like.

Herbivorous Butcher sausage, ham, hickory bacon, or maple bacon are all terrific choices. Field Roast breakfast sausage, Upton’s Naturals bacon, chorizo seitan, or Italian seitan are good here too.

Add non-dairy cheese

Nutritional yeast adds a nice cheesy flavor to the frittata. You can make it even cheesier by replacing a ½ portion of one of the vegetables with the non-dairy cheese of your choice.

Vegan feta cheese would be lovely with jarred artichoke hearts, cooked potato, and asparagus!

Replace ancho chili powder

Instead of using ancho chili powder, season with berbere. It’s one of my favorite Ethiopian spices, and it plays really nicely with all of the other seasonings.

Omit kala namak

Kala namak is an Indian salt with a sulfurous flavor. You can find it at Indian grocery stores or online.

However, if you’re not into eggy flavors or can’t source kala namak, simply omit it. There’s plenty of flavor without it.

Can this be made gluten-free?

Yes!

Since there’s no crust on a vegan frittata, it can easily be gluten-free. Be sure to use gluten-free miso paste.

Then simply replace seitan-based sausage or bacon with a vegetable. Or use Beyond Meat or Impossible sausage. They’re both gluten-free.

(Impossible sausage isn’t widely available yet, but I’ve found it on Imperfect Foods.)

If you’re using Beyond Meat or Impossible sausage, I recommend cooking them separately. They release a lot of oil when they cook, and the flavor can overtake the vegetables. By cooking them in their own pan, you can just take out the sausage and leave the grease.

What to serve with it

With vegan frittata you can lean into the breakfast direction with potatoes or more towards brunch with roasted vegetables & salad.

Here are some side dish recipes that work well:

• Breakfast potatoes in the air fryer or oven
• Air fryer asparagus
• Fall salad with apples & candied pecans
• Spinach salad with strawberries
• Lemony potatoes
• Roasted delicata squash